The concept of a big money adult tournament in Northern
California seemed so foreign that many participants needed a day or two to
adjust.Few locals had faced the added
pressure of competing for a four-digit first place cash prize.Some forgot to bring chess equipment,
unfamiliar with the prevailing policy of the Continental Chess Association not
to supply boards, sets and clocks.And
most players never before met that gray-haired man with the official-sounding deep
voice; even fewer knew that he is the current President of the USCF.Yes, Bill Goichberg came to town!

Over the past decade, the San Francisco Bay Area has become
the incubator for some of America's top juniors.Just in the past two years, local talents brought home two World
Youth medals, shared a US Junior championship and earned the distinction of
youngest USCF master ever.Northern
California now boasts six junior masters, not counting three more who graduated
from high school in the past two years.Bay Area events are full of so many kids as young as five years old (!)
that calling them ‘adult tournaments' has become a bit of a misnomer.The juniors even dominate the Labor Day
state championship; eight of the top twelve places in the Master section last
year went to players under the age of 20, including the champion.

Therefore, it came as quite a surprise to actually see a
successful adult tournament with a strong majority of the players old enough to
vote.The Western Chess
Congress on March 6-8 in Concord was, in fact, the first Bay Area
tournament with an paid prize fund over $10,000 since the 1995 US Open,
coincidentally held at the exact same hotel over thirteen years ago.Unlike the Firecracker Open, which failed
miserably in 2001, Bill Goichberg and the Continental Chess Association managed
to draw a respectable first year turnout of 229 players, including eight
International Masters and five others with FIDE titles.

Those that came to the Hilton hotel found an almost idyllic
chess venue in the rolling hills of the East Bay.The playing hall was large, quiet and had decent lighting.The lobby and enclosed courtyard offered space
to sit and relax between rounds or for parents to wait until their children
finish playing.Many parents wrote
emails or watched movies on their laptops.A bike and jogging trail next to the hotel allowed the opportunity to
exercise or enjoy the pleasant spring weather.Although the hotel had decent food, most players went across the street
to a mall or drove to the many fast food places within a mile radius.The selection included something for just
about every taste, from American to Italian to Oriental.Last but certainly not least, the venue was
easily accessible by freeway from all three major cities in the Bay Area and by
Bay Area Rapid Transit (via a free hotel shuttle to the nearest station).

The tournament was five rounds long, with a traditional
3-day option beginning on Friday night and a faster 2-day schedule (first two
rounds at G/75) starting on Saturday.The players were split almost evenly between these two schedules,
although a majority of kids-perhaps more likely their parents-chose the shorter
one.The eight class sections were
divided every 200 points at odd numbered intervals: U2100, U1900, etc, down to
U900.

The Western Chess Congress began with a slew of upsets on
the top boards, as I
reported on Saturday night.In
fact, the six 2400+ rated players in the tournament combined for two losses,
three draws and merely one win in the first round!There were so many upsets in the 2-day schedule that one low
master beat an IM in round 1 and, as a reward, got paired down versus an expert
in round 2.

As is often the case, the youngsters picking up these scalps
include some of the brightest rising stars, certainly future titled players
themselves.Northern California's
newest master, 15-year old NM Rohan Agarwal, swindled the former state champion
IM Vladimir Mezentsev in a G/75 blunder-fest.Two players from Arizona tasted early success too: Cuban native WFM
Liulia Cardona defeated IM Vladimir Mezentsev while 12-year old expert David
Adelberg earned the point against 2300-rated Arjoe Loanzon.

However, one junior stood taller than all of the rest.Always short for his age, former World U12
champion FM Daniel Naroditsky, now 13 years old, has grown in more ways than
one over the past year.In Concord, he
proved that he was the man to beat, transforming from a shy player with a
mid-2300 rating into a confident champion with the composure of a veteran
professional.Known to family and
friends by the Russian form of his name, Danya easily won his first three games
before cruising with a pair of solid draws against experienced International
Masters.Amazingly, the score of 4-1
held up for undisputed first place!

The key game of the tournament came in round 3 against
Danya's friend and occasional study partner IM Sam Shankland.Both Naroditsky and Shankland have tasted
success at the highest level and share the distinction of medalling at the
World Youth Chess Festival.While
friends off the board, their games over the years have been uncompromising and the
contest in Concord was no exception. Thanks to FM Naroditsky for sharing some of his observations
below.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3
d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6This is the Classical Variation of the Scheveningen. It is one of the
best lines in the Sicilian for black and may be extremely dangerous if white
doesn't know what he is doing. 6.Be2
I decide not to go into the
theoretical duel after Bg5 and play Karpov's pet line. The main idea is to set
up the Bishop on e3, Castle, and follow it up by f4. White's position will be
extremely solid and centralized.
6...e6
6...e5!? Is also an interesting
line. 7.Nf3 h6 8.0-0 Be7 9.Re1 0-0 10.h3 Be6 11.Bf1 White has a slight edge.7.0-0
Be7 8.Be3 0-0 9.f4 Qc7 10.Kh1 Bd7 11.Nb3

The position is a normal position
for the Be2 Sicilian. Black will play on the Queenside, while white will
prepare a Kingside attack with g4-g5. Here, black makes a mistake, missing my
14th move.
11...e5?
11...a6 reaches a main line Scheveningen.
12.Nd5!
12.f5? Na5! 13.Qd3 Bc6 with counterplay12...Nxd5 13.exd5 Nd8 14.f5! This
is the idea. White will now transfer his b3-N to the dominant e4 square, when
black's position will be extremely passive and tied up. 14...f6 15.Nd2 g6!
This
is black's best chance, but it still doesn't help.16.Bd3 Kg7 17.c4 Nf7
18.Qc2!
Forcing black to play g5, when he will have no counterplay. 18...g5
19.b4 b6
19...b5 20.c5 a5 21.c6 with a large advantage.20.Ne4 Qb7
21.a4Stopping the counterplay with b5.21...a6 22.Nc3 Rfc8 23.Qf2 e4!?
This
is black's best chance-he opens the e5 square for his N.
24.Nxe4 Ne5
25.Bxg5! Nxd3 26.Bxf6+!
A nice final combination, which wins immediately.
26...Bxf6
27.Qg3+ Kh8 28.Nxd6 Black cannot defend both against Nf7 checkmate and his
Queen. 1-0
What is the secret to becoming a World Youth champion?Obviously, the achievement requires a deep
commitment to chess.Most observers
expect the prodigy to levitate over his laptop between rounds while digesting
the latest variations from Rybka.To
the contrary, Danya's pre-game relaxation last weekend actually included video
games, not chess databases.After the
tournament, the champion also needed to cool off properly.Since there was no need for a blitz playoff
for first place, Danya had to satisfy his speed chess appetite online later
that evening.

IM Emory Tate

Six participants, including International Masters Dmitry
Zilberstein, Mark Ginsburg, Ricardo DeGuzman and Emory Tate, all shared second
place at the surprisingly low score of 3.5 out of 5, all with two wins and
three draws.What happened with all of
the draws?Amazingly, the top seven
boards in the final round were all drawn.It certainly was not for lack of trying; all games lasted at least 2.5
hours and three exceeded 50 moves on Sunday evening.A few contests simply petered out into an even endgame after some
exciting tactics.The presence of the
brilliant tactician IM Tate added some spice to the tournament, although he was
unable to wow his fans in this last round encounter against the solid IM
Zilberstein.

As many masters
have said, all rook endgames are drawn. This one is no exception.51.Kg3 Rd4
52.Re7+ Kg6 53.Ra7 Rxd5 54.Rxa6 Kf5 55.Kf3 Rd1 56.Ra5+ d5 57.Ke3 Ke5 58.Ra8 ½-½

IM Dmitry Zilberstein

Fortunately, not all of the games between titled players
ended in a perfunctory draw.Since IM
DeGuzman and IM Shipman both enjoy playing endgames, it seemed quite natural
for their game to be decided after the queens and most minor pieces were
traded.

IM Ricardo DeGuzman

David Adelberg

The other two players who tied for second were rapidly
improving juniors: NM Steven Zierk from the Bay Area and the previous mentioned
expert David Adelberg.The CalChess
high school champion Zierk continues to impress; he was a C player just a
little over two years ago and now is merely a handful of rating points short of
the FM title.However, the big
revelation of the weekend was the 2438 performance turned in by Adelberg.He finished undefeated against five masters
and, now rated 2169, he will no doubt join the ranks of master very soon.Watch how efficiently he goes king hunting
against IM Mezentsev in the following game.

White's only hope was 23.Rd4 (intending Rb4) 23...Bxd4 24.cxd4
Qxb5 25.Qxb5 Rxb5+ Although 5 vs. 4 on one side of the board is often drawn,
white's weak pawn structure and the large number of remaining pawns gives black
plenty of reason to be optimistic.23...Bxc3! 24.Qxd6 Rxb5+
White
resigned in the face of 25. Kc2 Rb2+ 26. Kc1 Qe3+ 27.Rd2 Rxd2 28. Qb8+ Rd8
discovered check! 0-1
While most Chess Life Online articles focus on the Open or
Premier section, the majority of players are in the lower divisions.Two veteran Mechanics' Institute members,
Larry Snyder and Igor Traub, shared the top prize in the U2100 section,
followed closely by several fellow competitors from the Tuesday Night Marathon
in San Francisco.In fact, most of the
class section winners were adults, bucking the trend of scholastic supremacy
established in most Bay Area tournaments.The lone exception was U1900 section champion Rahul Desirazu, who earned
both a nice payday and gained 130 rating points for a 5-0 score.

Samuel Sevian

At the other end of the age spectrum, a few of the Bay
Area's talented juniors did come to match wits against the big boys.Samuel Sevian, the nation's youngest expert
(achieved at the age of 8 years and 2 months) scored 50% against much older opposition
in the U2100 section.Although he
dropped below 2000 in Concord, Samuel remains on track to shatter the USCF
youngest master record held by another Bay Area resident, NM Nicholas Nip.Ironically, Samuel lost his two G/75 games
and then came back with 2.5/3 in the six-hour time control.Who says little kids can't play long
games?However, Samuel wasn't even the
youngest player in Concord; that distinction went to national Kindergarten
champ Arun Khemani, playing in the U1100 section.

Fortunately, the first Western Chess Congress will not be
the last.Bill Goichberg plans to
return to Concord on Martin Luther King weekend in January 2010 for an even
bigger 7-round festival over four days (with accelerated schedules available).Perhaps more participants from Southern
California and other western states will turn out next year; it always is more
enjoyable to play strangers instead of all of your local buddies.

Finally, I wish to share an endgame from one of my
games.On Friday night, either fate or
a bribe to an assistant TD saw me paired on top board against my friend IM
Shankland.I managed to salvage a draw
from a losing position by successfully hypnotizing my talented opponent with
multiple dubious moves.We pick up the
action after time control, as the game entered the interesting endgame of
knight and two separated pawns against bishop and one pawn.

Aigner,Michael (2262) - Shankland,Sam (2477) [D15]Western Chess Congress 41.Kc2The endgame is drawn, but only with accurate
defense. White keeps king on c2 or c3, shuffles bishop between c1, d2 and e3
and pushes g5 if necessary. As long as the bishop has enough squares, then
zugzwang is impossible. If the black goes after the g-pawn, then white captures
the c-pawn for a theoretical draw. 41...Kd5
If 41...Kf3 42.Kc3 Kxg4
43.Kxc4 Nf4 44.Bb4 All white needs to do now is sacrifice the bishop for the
last pawn. 44...g6 45.Be7 Kf5 46.Kd4 Nh5 47.Ke3 Nf6 48.Kf3 g5 49.Bxf6.42.Kc3
g6 43.Bh6?? 43.Bc1 Also OK is Be3. 43...Nc5 44.Be3 Ne4+ 45.Kc2 Ke5 46.Bc1
Nf6 This is a tricky position. White must gain a tempo to prevent black from
setting up zugzwang. 47.Bb2+! 47.g5? Nd5 48.Bd2 c3! Here's the threat!
White loses the pawn endgame if he takes. 49.Bc1 Kd4 Zugzwang! The
bishop has run out of available squares on the key diagonal. 50.Ba3 Ne3+
51.Kb1 Kd3 52.Bc1 Nd5 53.Ba3 Kd2 54.Bc1+ Kd1 55.Ba3 c2+ 47...Ke6 48.g5 Ne4
49.Bc143...Nc5??Sadly, two blind mice missed that g5 traps the
bishop, thus allowing black to walk over and capture it with the king. 44.Kd2
Ne4+ 45.Ke3 Nc5 46.Bg7 Ne6 47.Bc3 Nd8 48.Kf4 Nf7 49.Bb2
With an optimal
position, white calmly sits and waits.
49...Kc5 50.Bc3! Gaining time by
forcing black to go around the long way to get to b3.50...Kb5 51.Ke4 Ka4
52.Kd5More simple was Kd4 and Bd2. Once the knight moves, then the white
king runs to e5 and f6.
52...Kb3 53.Bd2 Kc2 54.Bf4 Kd3
An interesting
try was 54...c3 55.Ke6 g5 56.Be3 Kd3 57.Bc1 Nh6 58.Kf6 Nxg4+ 59.Kxg5 Ne3
60.Kf4! Dvoretsky demonstrates that this position can be won if white's king is
far away. Alas, the king is close enough here. 60...Nc4 61.Kf3! Nd2+ 62.Kf2 Kc2
63.Ba3 Kb3 64.Bc1 Kc2 65.Ba3 Nc4 66.Bb455.Ke6?? Walking into a trap.
Instead, white needed to shuffle his bishop again, this time to c1.55...g5??
I guess it was lucky day! 55...Ke4! This move wins a tempo. 56.Bc1 (Or
if 56.Bd2 Ne5 57.Kf6 Nf3! 58.Bc1 g5 59.Bb2 Kd3 60.Kf5 c3 61.Ba1 c2 62.Bb2
Nd2 63.Kxg5 Nc4! The White bishop runs out of squares. 64.Bc1 Ke2!
65.Kf6 Kd1 66.Bf4 Nd2 And Black cleverly promotes the pawn.) 56...Ne5
57.Kf6 c3! Once again the White bishop is out of moves. 58.g5 Nd3 59.Ba3 Nf4!
60.Bc1 c2 61.Bb2 Nd3 62.Ba3 Kd4! 63.Kxg6 Kc3 64.Kf7 Nb2 65.Bxb2+ Kxb2 66.g6 c1Q
Black wins because the last pawn is not a bishop or rook pawn.56.Bc1 Nh6
57.Kf6 Nxg4+ 58.Kxg5 Nf2
If 58...Kc2 59.Bf4 Nf2 60.Be5 is similar to the
game.59.Bb2! While this move is not the only way to draw, the plan now
quickly becomes apparent quickly. White keeps his bishop on the long diagonal,
shuffling between a1, b2 and g7, h8 as needed to prevent the knight from
shielding the last pawn.
59...Ne4+ 60.Kf5 Nc3 61.Ke6 Kc2 62.Ba1 Kb3 63.Kd7
Na4 64.Bg7 Nc3 65.Kc6 Kc2 66.Kd7 Kd3 67.Kc8 White doesn't need his king to
draw this position and therefore he keeps it far away to avoid accidental
knight forks. 67...Nb5 68.Ba1 Nd4 69.Kb7 Nb3 70.Bb2 Nc5+ 71.Ka8 ½-½
Check out MSA rated results of the Western Chess Congress and also see Michael Aigner (aka f-pawn)'s blog for frequent updates on Bay Area chess.